Fish Hat

I was waiting for this hat to dry and laughed when I saw that Bubba posted a picture of someone Hermie who had just made this fish hat that you can get from Knitty. It's a great pattern that's easy to follow and a great way to use up scrap yarn. I didn't like the way the eyes looked on the original so I crocheted my fish's eyes and eyeballs.

Look Bubba and Peg!

I'm using the stitch markers that you gave me for Christmas.

Thanks again!

Marsan Cap and Summer Flies Shawl

It's time for a craft update! I knit this Marsan Watchcap pattern for my cousin John. It'll be his first winter in the U.S. so I figured he'd need something to keep his head warm. The design is pretty simple, but I liked that the hat folds up and does double-duty to keep your ears warm. 

I finally knit this Summer Flies shawl. Considering the blustery weather we've been having lately, I'd say that summer is long gone. The pattern is very well-written and easy to follow. I decided to use Naturally Caron Country yarn in silver service since I already had a few skeins. The yarn looked to have a slight shine to it, but unfortunately it ended up looking more drab than fab after it was knit. 

Xenocryst

What's that? According to my quick Google search, it's "a crystal foreign to the igneous rock in which it occurs".

It's also the name of the latest hat pattern that I finished last night. I came across the pattern while I was thumbing through the Fall 2010 issue of Knitscene at Adirondack Yarns in Lake Placid this past summer. The pattern uses an Estonian cast on which I had never heard of, but fortunately the author provided a link to this video. The Estonian cast on is definitely more attractive than other methods I've used so it's a keeper. This simple pattern was easy to memorize so it was the perfect companion for a few glasses of wine and the latest movie from NetFlix.

I wanted to test drive Debbie Stoller's Bamboo Ewe yarn that I bought from JoAnn's a few months ago. The color is Twilight, a purple/blue color that reminds me of grape-flavored Nerds. The yarn is 55% bamboo, 45% wool. For less than $5 a skein, it was nicer to work with than I expected. It was fairly soft and didn't split like some of the cheaper yarns I've worked with (ahem, Naturally Caron Spa AND Country). It had a couple of knots  (including a section of yarn that seemed to be tied together by a 12" strand) but nothing so bad that I couldn't work it out.

Thanks to Ula for modeling. Yes I know she/it is creepy, but get over it.

Traveling Woman

My Tita Joy (that's aunt for you non-Flips) moved to the U.S. from the Philippines (yes, legally) a few months ago. I came across this Traveling Woman shawl pattern and thought that it would be a perfect gift for her. Not only will it keep her warm, but I thought the name was appropriate considering her big move to the West. 

I was a little worried about how much time I spent knitting this shawl when I first saw it after I finished the pattern. Quite bumpy and misshapen don't you think? I know, the harsh sunlight was a bad move on my part when I took the pic.

Just like a shower is refreshing after a long, hard run, blocking does wonders for a knitted piece. Here's the same shawl after it was washed and air dried.

I hope she likes it (and I hope she doesn't stumble upon this blog before Christmas).

Featherweight Cardigan

After months of working on this project, I finally finished the Featherweight Cardigan I started back in July. The pattern itself was very easy to follow and consisted of knits, purls, and a few increases; definitely a good project for a beginner. More experienced knitters would probably get bored with project pretty quickly, but it's simplicity made it a no-brainer to work on while I watched TV.

I had the Brown Sheep Cotton Fine yarn left over from another project that I had frogged and wasn't sure how'd it would work with the pattern. Turns out it was the perfect weight and gave the cardi that breezy quality that makes it perfect for those cool summer nights. Next time I think I'll use a darker color since my clothing somehow tends to be a magnet for marinara, ketchup, red wine, and chocolate ice cream.

While I think it turned out pretty well for being my first cardi, it does have a few "character flaws" that I'll have to fix the next time I knit this pattern. You'll probably notice that the left sleeve is a smidge shorter than the right one. Another, more annoying, mistake I made was that I didn't pick up enough stitches at the collar's edge. I probably should have picked up another one or two stitches at the edges of the collar so that the collar edge was more even with the bottom hem of the cardi. Oh well. There's always next time.

Craft Project Update

I had lunch with my friend Bubba last week and he made me realize that I haven't blogged about any craft projects in months. Here's a rundown of my projects-in-the-works.

I had started to crochet my Mom one of these shrugs for her birthday back in June. Unfortunately, I realized that the armholes were probably going to be too small for her so I ended up getting her something else. I told my sister she could have the shrug once I finished, but I just haven't been motivated to finish it. Too bad, because all it needs is for me to crochet one more sleeve and weave in the loose ends.

I am determined to knit some kind of cardigan this year just for the sake of saying I've completed one. Since my previous attempt didn't work out so well, I decided to start with a baby cardi. Settle down. I'm not preggers. I just figured it was smaller and less work than an adult cardi. I opted for this Provence baby cardigan and have all the parts and pieces knit. Now I just have to actually knit them together. (Notice the theme? I love to start projects but have a harder time finishing them.)

My last unfinished project is this featherweight cardigan. The yarn I'm using is a lightweight cotton in a cream-ish color. I've knit about 4 inches below the armholes and have another 5 inches to go before I tackle the sleeves and the collar.

We'll see if this one can keep my attention long enough that I can finish it. If not there's plenty of other projects in my queue including this shawl:

These mittens:

And this hat:

There's always another project to start.

I'm dreaming of...

hazy, hot, and humid summer days. Snowzilla, Snowmageddon, Snowpocalypse. Whatever you want to call it, it's here.Fortunately, our power was back on when we woke up this morning. Unfortunately, the cable is out. I've decided to milk this snowstorm for what it's worth and knit myself into oblivion. I'm working on this vest but am not seeing how it's going to get to its finished state based on how it looks right now.

Time will tell.

BTW, what's up with those neighbors who insist on shoveling their driveways while it's still snowing? Overachievers? I say, enjoy the free pass to laziness.

Dad's cap

Dad's cap
Originally uploaded by cherrydg

So my Mom told me that my Dad has been wearing the ornament hat I made him to bed. Turns out his head gets cold at night and keeping it warm seems to help his sinuses. I decided to make him another hat since Christmas is over.

Girlified Ponytail Cap

Remember that ponytail cap I made a few weeks ago? I was looking through Nicky Epstein's Knitted Embellishments book yesterday and decided to "girlify" it by adding an embroidered flower to it:


Girlified Ponytail Cap
Originally uploaded by cherrydg

What's up?

Yes, I know I’ve been MIA from this blog lately. Here's a quick rundown of what's been goin' on.

* December’s snow screwed up my training for Tokyo a bit, so I’ve been trying to be super-diligent about getting my runs in the last few weeks. This past Saturday’s run was probably one of the hardest runs I’ve ever done. If anyone plans to stroll the W&OD over by Leesburg, the trail detour is a hilly b*tch (16% grades in some areas).

* Speaking of running, here’s a preview of other races I'm running in 2010 so far:
February 28 – Tokyo Marathon
March 20 – National Marathon
April 25 – GW Classic 10-miler
May 8 – Capon 50K
June 5 or 6 – North Face Marathon or Half-Marathon
September 11 – VA Happy Trails Women's Half-Marathon
October 16 – Tussey 50-miler (if Capon goes well)
November – either the Richmond Marathon or Philly Marathon

* I've been doing some research on what we want to see while we're in Japan. We get to Tokyo on a Friday, will run the marathon on Sunday, and then head down to Kyoto on Monday. We'll make Kyoto "home base" for a few days and hope to venture down to Hiroshima and some other surrounding cities. Then, it's back up to Tokyo on Friday to finish off the trip, perhaps with a day trip to Mt. Fuji.

* I decided to sign up for an online travel writing class. Technical writing has been a bit blah lately, so I figured that this class might get the neurons firing.

* Still knitting of course. I've finished a scarf and a few hats which I'll take pics of soon.

Trapped in a Snow Globe Recap

Friday night we went to my company's holiday party and stayed just long enough for drinks and dinner before making a dash for the door.
Spent Saturday watching movies including Up, Inglorious Bastards, and Marley and Me. Loved Up, except for that it made me cry in the first 5 minutes, Inglorious Bastards was a dud because Steve accidentally got the original from RedBox instead of the new version with Brad Pitt, and Marley and Me was kinda slow but it was either that or channel surfing.

Also finished up a hat I was knitting for my bro. I was a little disappointed in how it turned out because the swirls on top aren't as pronounced as I expected them to be (click here to see what I mean). I probably screwed up somewhere but didn't want to undo it since Christmas is just a few days away.


Oh well. I do like the color.

After a pancake and eggs breakfast on Sunday, we shoveled and shoveled. Then we shoveled a path to the mailbox. Then we decided to shovel our neighbor's car out since he just had neck surgery. (That's my good deed for the year; no more.)

Ornament Hat

I've been wanting to knit this Christmas ornament hat for years and finally got my act together early enough this year to knit a few. I made one for my Dad and one for my friend Bubba since they're probably the only two people I know who are goofy enough to wear this out in public.

Dad has worn his a few times since I gave it to him on Turkey Day, and it seems that Bubba likes his too.

My pony...

tail hat and favorite pattern right now. The front looks like a normal cap.

The back has a gap for your ponytail. Such an easy pattern and the bulky yarn makes it so quick to knit. I think it took me about 6 hours to knit up each of these three hats..

Fingerless Gloves: Part II

After several failed attempts to follow the directions exactly, I decided to throw caution to the wind. Since I didn't have the number of stitches to pick up as specified by the pattern, I just picked up whatever number of stitches I had across the glove. I then had to cast on the same number of stitches to make the finger hoodie.

"Why didn't I do this earlier?" you ask. Because I'm a law-abiding citizen that feels wreckless when she doesn't follow directions exactly as written. In addition, it might be because I get annoyed when someone asks my how to do something in an application that I've written an user manual for. RTFM.

This was a pretty easy pattern to make and while I do love this style of glove/mitten, I'm not sure I'll make it again. Why? (1) I find having to stop knitting to put stitches on hold rather annoying. (2) I find weaving in the yarn ends cumbersome when there's one end. With this I have to weave in the ends for all the finger holes, plus the hoodie, plus anywhere I had to re-join the yarn. (3) There are way too many patterns I want to try to make this one again.

Another Slouchy Hat

This one's done using seed stitch.

Fingerless Gloves: Part I

I think fingerless gloves with a mitten flip-top are the best. If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a pic:



They keep your hands warm, but let you easily expose your fingers when you need them. Perfect for when you're feeling around your coat pocket for change, trying to get an eyelash out of your eye, or any other task that requires skin-to-object touching. I decided to try knitting the glittens (gloves + mittens) above and have managed to finish the fingerless gloves portion of the pattern.


Now all I need to do is knit the flip-top mitten. Unfortunately it requires picking up stitches: a task I absolutely hate and suck at. I think I whined about having to pick up stitches when I knitted the cable cap a few weeks ago. Completing this project is going to require some serious motivation and patience on my part so it may sit in the "hibernating" projects pile for a little longer.

Holiday Scarflette

This is the same keyhole bowtie scarf pattern as the aqua one I made a few weeks ago. I saw the el cheapo Lion Brand yarn in the traditional Christmas colors and decided on a whim to give it a go. The yarn is bulkier than the last one I used so I only casted on 16 stitches (instead of 30). It knit up quickly since the bulkier yarn required fewer rows.

Cabled Cap Complete

I finished the Coronet cabled cap the other night. The cables were pretty easy to knit once I got the hang of it and the main cap is all knit stitches. Besides knitting cables for the first time, I also had to learn how to do the kitchener stitch to attach the two ends of the cable band together; also not too difficult once you get the hang of it.

For me, the biggest challenge is having to pick up stitches prior to knitting the main cap. The picked up stitches should be fairly evenly distributed around the cap but I was either not picking stitches up often enough or picking too many up. It took me about 3 tries to finally get the right number of stitches on the needles. Even though the cap is fairly easy to knit, having to pick up stitches might be enough to dissuade me from using this pattern again (unless I find some trick to make the task easier).

First Cables

I'm attempting to make this cap from knitty.com which involves knitting some cables.
So far, so good.